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Bases
There are multiple bases scattered around on various islands on every map in the game. Though some bases are much more important than others, all are strategically valuable for the map control and line of sight they provide for your team, especially in lower-tier matches where no one has access to scout planes. Any base will provide your team is line of sight as long as it's under your team's control, even with as little as 1 HP. Some bases even have AI-controlled, defensive anti-aircraft or even anti-ship weaponry. These weapons deal quite a significant amount of damage, though their accuracy is generally rather spotty. Any base captured to 50% or greater health can also be used to teleport to any other friendly base greater than 50% health, which we will explain more in a moment. Understanding the importance of different types of bases can help you decide where to go at the start of a match, and even predict where the enemy might attack next. Capturing and Interacting with Bases Capturing a base is very simple, and any class of ship in the game except subs can do so. Be careful, though. Certain classes of ship are much better suited to capturing bases than others, and so it might not be worth your time to go trying to capture every base you see, depending on immediate context and what class of ship you're driving. Any base with the exception of spawn points can be captured. Once you've identified a base that you want to capture, mouse over it and you'll see a red circle that denotes the interactive range of that base. To capture a base, sail into this radius and right-click the base itself -- that's it! You don't even need to slow or stop your ship, as you will come to an immediate halt once you begin to capture. If done correctly, you'll see (and hear) your ship begin to offload landing craft, sail toward the island, land, and deal a specific amount of capture damage based on the landing force power of your ship and the "occupy" ability of your crew. When capturing a base, make sure you leave yourself ample room to escape. Since right-clicking also sets the direction of your ship, it's not uncommon to find your ship suddenly nosing toward the island when you start accelerating to leave, after capping. Accelerate slowly, and give yourself enough room to maneuver if you need to! At the same time, though, you want to try to get as close to the island as possible if you want to maximize the speed at which you capture a base. Your landing craft spawn at a pre-determined rate, and travel significantly slower than your ship, which means you want them to have to cross as little distance as possible. When trying to capture an enemy-held base, you can also shell or bomb it to help speed the process, but this can come at a cost. Each base has a prescribed amount of HP, from which bombs and shells detract, while landing forces and paratroopers do not. Shell a base too much, and you won't be able to capture it to 100% health, or even 50%, if the damage is that great. As a result, shelling should only be done in moderation. There are still some scenarios where it's quite useful to shell an enemy base, though. Often, you'll find both teams fighting over an island that one team just barely has control over. In this case, it's a good idea for one member of the team not in control of the island to pop off a few shells at the base until it returns to its neutral state. This will deny the enemy team the vision provided by their base, and can often turn the tide of the fight. Teleporting If you're within range of a friendly base with greater than 50% health, you can use that base to teleport to other friendly bases with greater than 50% health, including the spawn points. Come to a full stop within the base's radius, then either hit M or click the "relocate" button (which looks like two arrows forming a circle) at the top of your minimap. You'll be taken to the main map. Bases to which you can teleport will be highlighted, while friendly bases with less than 50% health will be darkened and non-selectable. You'll also notice, at the bottom of the window, a respawn countdown timer, which resets every 10 seconds. Choose where you'd like to go, click "change," and you will respawn at your destination once that timer hits 0. Using this feature can be incredibly useful for responding to enemy threats or for retreating from overwhelming numbers. It is also highly recommended that APA drivers make extensive use of this feature, as it will improve their survivability. Plus, as the ship class capable of capturing bases the fastest, they are also the ones most-able to make use of teleporting. The Different Types of Bases = Radar Stations Radar bases are perhaps the most important type of base in the game. By capturing just one radar base to at least 50% health, your team will benefit from periodic radar pings, which briefly reveal the location of every enemy surface ship on your minimap. This is a massive advantage for your team for a number of reasons. It allows you to know where the enemy is massing and where they are likely to attack; it gives subs and DDs an idea of where they might want to break through the lines and assassinate high-value targets; it lets your flagship make the best use of their commander abilities by allowing them to target densely-populated areas; and it allows you to find that pesky last surviving ship on the enemy team. Airfields Airfields are the second most important variety of base that you'll encounter. Capture one to around 20% health and your flagship will have access to their commander abilities: Recon Support, and Bombing Support. When used in conjunction with radar, these abilities can absolutely turn the tide of battle. Army Bases, Munition Bases, and Gun Towers These we've all lumped together into one category because they're all alike in that...well, they don't really do much. None of them have specific bonuses attached to them, unlike radar stations and airfields. Nonetheless, they're useful in that they're still bases -- capping them means more vision and more places to teleport, for your team. __FORCETOC__